Solar battery chargers

[cbay]

I am considering installing a solar battery charger and would like to get any feedback on these things. Any reccomendations on brand, do they work well? I do not get to use my boat often enough as I am woking out of state and it seems like a possible good solution for keeping the batteries up. When I do get come home to go out, I hate having to wait on charging the batteries.

Thanks.

[bustedflat]

I am considering installing a solar battery charger and would like to get any feedback on these things. Any reccomendations on brand, do they work well? I do not get to use my boat often enough as I am woking out of state and it seems like a possible good solution for keeping the batteries up. When I do get come home to go out, I hate having to wait on charging the batteries.

Thanks.

I use a solar charger on my boat and love it. Keeps batteries ready to go. I swap it from one battery to the other as needed. The way a solar charger works is beneficial to your basic Lead/Acid battery too. It helps keep sulfation from forming on plates.

[BiminiTwist]

What setup/brand are you using? Are you using a regulator with it?

[one4water]

I am considering installing a solar battery charger and would like to get any feedback on these things. Any reccomendations on brand, do they work well? I do not get to use my boat often enough as I am woking out of state and it seems like a possible good solution for keeping the batteries up. When I do get come home to go out, I hate having to wait on charging the batteries.

Thanks.

I am considering the same thing for my boat as it sits more than I would like. I have three batteries though. one for each motor and a house. I wonder if one panel will be able to be split to charge all three batteries.

Looking forward to seeing the input.

[OReely]

Solar panels come in a variety of sizes so you can get one to suit your charging needs. Physical size, more or less, equates to output. Trickle chargers take up a square foot or so. Significant output requires significant real estate.

In a multiple battery set up, you could use charging relays that would allow a single panel to charge all batteries while at the same time keeping them isolated to prevent discharge in a failure of some sort. Your boat may already be set up with charge relays.

Charge controllers (also called regulators) aren't really needed unless your panel output exceeds approximately 1.5% of battery capacity. Even though they aren't usually necessary, since they are relatively inexpensive some people opt to put them on anyway to more closely regulate the power going into the batteries..

A small .5 amp solar panel can supply more than enough power to keep batteries topped off but it's not made to recharge deeply discharged batteries. They can replace the parasitic drain on the batteries that occurs over time. It will produce, on average 2-3 amps a day as long as it gets full sun. Shade will severely hamper output.

If you have small loads on the batteries that need to be accounted for, you might need to up the size of the panel. These energy vampires could include things like monitoring systems, CO detectors, computerized bilge pumps, etc. You'll have to figure out your load requirements to properly size the panel.

Two mfg's that I've looked into are Kyocera and Sunsei. A few years ago when I was researching this for a customer, these were considered among the best. I believe West Marine still sells the Sunsei line.

[sgmopar]

I am considering installing a solar battery charger and would like to get any feedback on these things. Any reccomendations on brand, do they work well? I do not get to use my boat often enough as I am woking out of state and it seems like a possible good solution for keeping the batteries up. When I do get come home to go out, I hate having to wait on charging the batteries.

Thanks.

Stick with a major brand and get something a little larger than you think you need. I think most solar chargers don't produce as well as the mfg claims but that being said the setup I bought does everything I need. It's nice not worrying about my batteries any more. There's lots of solar dealers around. I bought mine from these guys.

http://www.towshop.com/

[kingair]

this is one I have and use

7.75 Watt Solar Trickle Charger

$99.00

7.75 Watt Solar Trickle Charger

[v70cat]

This would make a good group buy sponsor item.